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Pattern: Candy Cane Santa Stocking by Donna Race
Source: Dimensions Gold Collection kit via Jo-Ann Fabric
Notes: This is the third (and final) family stocking, and it definitely took me the longest. It’s also the only one I actually did the final sewing on. (The first sewing I’ve done since I was 14!) Like the others, I lined the front with the white felt that came in the kit and used red felt to create the back of the stocking. It’s probably a good thing that Santa doesn’t stuff the grown-ups’ stockings in our house, since this one might be just a little bit fragile at the seams.

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Last week, I knit something. I can’t show you (yet), but I can tell you this: It’s a test knit for Chrissy Gardiner’s forthcoming book, it was fun and fast, and I think it’s an excellent pattern for people who’ve been wanting to try toe-up socks but have been a little intimidated.

Those are “Designated Driver” and “4-8-15-16-23-42″. There are still a few skeins of each (and some others) available for sale, if you’d like a Yarntini fix, too. I’m pondering buying some more of the “Designated Driver” and making a shawl. If I ever get to actually knit again.

Last night, I put the finishing touches on Checking His List. I trimmed the selvedge, hand-stitched the hem at the top of the aida cloth, braided the yarn for the loop, and stitched that onto the side. K’s coworker had sewn up the seam for us Monday night. It’s now hanging proudly over the fireplace. Little Miss’ name is stitched at the top, though you can’t see it in the photo.

I think it’s fantastic, if I do say so myself. And nobody can say anything about the appearance of the back side of the stitching, since I used the included white felt to line it and made the back out of red felt.

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I’ve been trucking along on Checking His List. The cross-stitching is done (except for several rows at the top, where Little Miss’ name goes), and I’ve backstitched the little bunnies, the bag full of toys, and Santa’s legs. My goal is to finish by Monday, including cutting out the frontpiece and the two felt pieces, so that it can be all sewn up before next Friday.

I always think the backstitching will take longer than it does. (I hope I didn’t jinx anything now!) As I got down into the bottom half of the cross-stitch chart, K kept saying, “You’re almost done!” And I kept saying, “No, I still have all the backstitching.”

“Skip it,” she suggested.

But now that those little yellow blobs have outlines that make them look like stars, the glory of backstitching is apparent.

While I work on this, I keep eyeing the three skeins of Smooshy that arrived earlier this week. Lovely, lovely yarn. But there will be no knitting until this stocking is done.

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I had Halloween off from work, so, while Little Miss napped, I finished clue #3 of Secret of the Stole. I seem to be falling farther and farther behind. And I’m okay with that.

I have no idea what the theme is. For a while, I thought the large motifs might be flowers, and then someone said they looked like spiders, and that’s all I could see for a while. And that little X at the top looks sort of like, well, one of those guys who waves in the airplanes at the gate. I’m pretty sure that’s not it.

Last week, something very bad happened to my lovely MacBook, and the widget that was counting down the days until Christmas Eve went with it. (Since my iBook is still running Panther, there are no widgets on that one.) But even without the clock, I know there’s not much time left, so all crafting efforts are currently focused on one thing:

That’s “Checking His List”, as of two weeks ago. Since then, I’ve finished the red portion of the coat and started on the trim. I might manage to finish this stocking yet.

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For months, I’ve been saying that I wanted to cross-stitch new Christmas stockings for the family. K has a stocking her mom made for her when she was little, but my stocking is plain red fake fur (although my dad did recently send me my childhood stocking), and Little Miss doesn’t have one yet. So, when JoAnn Fabrics sent me an email about their “Christmas in July” sale, I went for it. I ordered three stocking kits, all featuring Santa. I’ve started on the one for Little Miss. It’s a Dimensions pattern, called “Checking His List”.

So far, I’ve finished Santa’s belt and a bit of the jacket. I have a long way to go.